Vitto Brown didn’t go to bed until 3:30 a.m. Thursday night. Hours earlier, No. 7 Wisconsin (10-1 Big Ten, 21-3 overall) had sneaked by Nebraska in a hard-fought overtime victory. At 8:50 a.m. just a few hours after flying back into Madison, Brown found himself in his first of three Friday classes.
“After that I crashed, right before practice,” Brown said.
The Badgers looked lethargic for most of Thursday night’s win over the Cornhuskers as well. And Friday afternoon, the physical fatigue from UW’s most recent grueling stretch was evident.
All five starters spent the majority of UW’s open practice time on the sideline. When they were on the court, players took advantage of every stoppage, putting their hands on their knees to suck in some air.
The Badgers host Northwestern (7-4, 18-6) Sunday evening, and the prospects of lingering fatigue are very real.
Senior forward Nigel Hayes played 32 minutes—including the entire second half and overtime—against the Cornhuskers. He has played at least 37 minutes three times in UW’s last six games, but he is far from the only Badger logging this many minutes.
Senior guard Bronson Koenig has played 40 minutes in three of the Badgers’ last six games. Redshirt sophomore forward Ethan Happ has played at least 36 minutes three times in that span while redshirt senior guard Zak Showalter has played 36 minutes twice.
Brown, the lone Badger starter to have not logged more than 30 minutes in the past six games, has been recovering from a lower leg injury that nearly held him out against Minnesota in late January.
“There’s not much you can do for it, and that’s why they went pretty easy on us today,” Brown said of UW’s light practice Friday.
Even players who haven’t logged heavy minutes like freshman guard D’Mitrik Trice and redshirt freshman guard Brevin Pritzl appear fatigued.
“I’ve been better. There’s definitely days when you don’t feel as good,” Pritzl said.
While less than 72 hours will have passed between UW’s games against Nebraska and Northwestern, the Wildcats will visit Madison Sunday having not played a minute since a 68-61 loss to Illinois on Tuesday.
But even with a longer break for the Wildcats, at this point in the conference season, Pritzl expects every team to feel some fatigue.
“Obviously at this point in the season, everybody’s going to be sore. Everybody’s going to be dinged up. Everybody’s going to have a little bumps and bruises,” he said. “So really I believe most of the game’s going to be mental. It’s going to be telling yourself that, ‘All right, I’m not going to feel this pain today. I’m going to go out there and perform.’”
Leg injuries to both Hayes and Koenig have limited their practice time, but both have yet to miss a game. The same is true for Brown, who needed every off day in between UW’s victory over Michigan and Minnesota to nurse his left leg.
As a result, head coach Greg Gard has turned more and more to different lineups to try and spark his ball club and give his starters a break.
“Everybody’s ready. Everybody’s mentally ready to play,” Brown said. “It’s not the thing where only the starters play and then if somebody gets in foul trouble or gets hurt you’re not throwing somebody in the fire who’s never been in there. He’s getting everybody reps. Nobody’s going to be nervous or caught off guard by being thrown in the game at this point.”
Prtitzl has recently emerged as yet another contributor off of UW’s bench. Trice, junior guard Jordan Hill and sophomore forward Khalil Iverson have been key reserves as well.
They might all be important for a Badgers team that is looking to avoid sleepwalking into a loss Sunday against the Wildcats.
“We’re not going to be messing around,” Brown said. “We’re chilling and going to be trying to go through our recovery like we should.”
Tipoff against Northwestern is set for Sunday is at 5:30 p.m.
